Professor Conor O'Mahony:

Due diligence is emphasised by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, CRC, as an obligation that should be imposed on service providers. This point was emphasised in an earlier general comment in respect of children's rights in the business sector and has been re-emphasised in terms of the digital environment specifically in the CRC's most recent general comment.

Head 50A of the Bill makes reference to requirements on service providers to undertake actions like risk assessments, but it does not specify that such risk assessments should include an examination of risks posed to children's rights in the delivery of their services. The important point to emphasise in this regard is that children's rights are still a relatively emerging concept in some ways and the concept's buy-in by society at large and the business sector is not as strong as it could be. Children's rights are a more detailed and involved concept than just the child's right to protection from harm. The CRC's general comment No. 25 on children's rights in the digital environment spells out a range of different rights that children have that are implicated in online activities. If we are to ensure that these rights are protected in the digital environment, the CRC says that we need to impose obligations on service providers to assess how the delivery of their services will impact across the range of children's rights and what risks will be presented in that regard. My fear is that, when head 50A refers simply to a risk assessment without making any reference to what kinds of risk need to be covered by that assessment, children's rights could be left behind in the process.